Combined gutter, fascia, soffit arrangement

ABSTRACT

An arrangement and combination in which an elongated unitary gutter, fascia and soffit structure is provided in the form of a structural eave for a building, such as a dwelling house, originally constructed without the customary eave overhang. The unitary gutter, fascia and soffit structure comprises a rear wall having means for attaching the structure to the roof, a horizontal bottom wall forming the soffit, and a front wall forming the fascia, the rear, bottom and fascia walls, in turn, forming the gutter. This eave structure is attached to the roof by unitary, high strength brackets each having a main body portion extending in a vertical plane and traversing the structure, a forward end portion adapted to engage the front fascia wall of the eave, and a roof anchoring portion extending from the rear of the bracket, and integral with the main body portion. Along the front and rear edges of the soffit wall are provided elongated downwardly directed steps.

United States Patent [191 Merkin et a1.

1 COMBINED GUTTER, FASCIA, SOFFIT ARRANGEMENT [75] Inventors: Bill C. Merkin; Michael J. Tobias,

both of Pittsburgh; Richard C. Ray, Lower Burrell; Robert L. La Barge, Ben Avon, all of Pa.

[73] Assignee: Aluminum Company of America,-

Pittsburgh, Pa.

[22] Filed: Aug. 17, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 281,326

[52] US. Cl. 52/11, 52/94 [51] Int. Cl E04d 13/00 [58] Field of Search 52/11, 15, 94, 95, 96; 61/14, 15; 248/481, 48.2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,343,461 6/1920 Marberg 52/11 2,419,996 5/1947 Honikman 61/14 X 2,421,978 6/1947 Andrews 52/11 2,431,012 11/1947 Alig 248/481 2,784,687 3/1957 Hovey 52/11 2,843,063 7/1958 Thomson 52/11 3,053,491 9/1962 Ramser 248/482 3,126,181 3/1964 Stceg 248/482 3,256,654 6/1966 Pinckney 52/95 3,295,803 l/l967 Blayden 52/95 X 3,344,562 10/1967 Miles et a1. 248/482 [11 1 3,826,048 [451 July 30,1974

3,550,381 12/1970 South 52/11 X 3,752,428 8/1973 Trostle 248/482 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Henry C. Sutherland Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Elroy Strickland 57 ABSTRACT An arrangement and combination in which an elongated unitary gutter, fascia and soffit structure is provided in the form of a structural eave for a building, such as a dwelling house, originally constructed without the customary eave overhang. The unitary gutter, fascia and soffit structure comprises a rear wall having means for attaching the structure to the roof, a horizontal bottom wall forming the soffit, and a front wall forming the fascia, the rear, bottom and fascia walls, in turn, forming the gutter. This eave structure is attached to the roof by unitary, high strength brackets each having a main body portion extending in a vertical plane and traversing the structure, a forward end portion adapted to engage the front fascia wall of the cave, and a roof anchoring portion extending from the rear of the bracket, and integral with the main body portion. Along the front and rear edges of the soffit wall are provided elongated downwardly directed steps.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PAIl-ZNIEnJmamm SHEET 2 OF 4 SHEEI Bill 4 PAINTED- COMBINED GUTTER, FASCIA, SOFFIT ARRANGEMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an aesthetically pleasing, combined gutter, soffit and fascia structure supported on high strength brackets traversing the structure and attached to the roof of a building, the brackets and combined structure providing a unitary structural eave that is economical to produce and install.

The fabrication of dwelling houses and other types of building structures, and portions thereof, at a factory location, has provided known economies for builders and home owners through standardization and mass production techniques. The eave portion of wooden truss roofs of factory made houses, depending upon the extent of the overhang, can involve a substantial amount of lumber and roof structure, and thus substantial costs despite such standardization and mass production techniques. In shipping prefabricated roof trusses or prefabricated roof structures of modular house constructions, the over-all size of the trusses or modular roof structures is often limited by wide load regulations for highways as well as the widths of tunnels and bridges, and the location of railroad platforms that the structures must clear on their way to building sites.

In order not to unduly limit the size of the building structure because of the above clearance and shipping problems, one practice has been to fabricate the eave portions of wooden roofs separately from the main roof structure, and then pivotally attach the separately fabricated eave portions to the edges of the roof. In this manner, the eave portions can be folded back upon the roof for shipping purposes thereby allowing full utilization of available clearances along the travel route for the roof and thus for the building itself. After the structures have arrived at the building site, the eaves are rotated into place and rigidly fastened to the main roof structure.

Such folded eaves solve the shipping clearance problem but adds costs to the roof structure since two attaching processes are involved, i.e., the pivoted attachment at the factory site, and the rigid attachment at the building site.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a unitary structural eave that reduces the cost of building roof structures and gutter systems while simultaneously providing larger buildings to be transported in modular form, or roof trusses to be prefabricated and shipped for larger buildings. This is accomplished by separately fabricating the eave in the form of an elongated, combined gutter, soffit and fascia arrangement and structure that is easily and quickly attached to the lower edges of a roof of a building that is constructed initially without eaves. The combined, unitary eave arrangement comprises a vertical rearwall that is attached to the roof, an integral horizontal bottom wall forming the soffit, and an integral front vertical wall forming the fascia, the combination of these walls forming an open gutter. The configuration of the walls are such that they provide an aesthetically pleasing overhang and eaves structure that is, in addition, economical to manufacture and to fasten to the building. Further, the structure of the invention has a high strength characteristic that makes it highly resistant to live loads and high velocity wind conditions. This is accomplished by the use of strong, unitary mounting and support brackets that are economical to make and conveniently disposed to engage the eave structure and to fasten to the roof and building. Since the eave structure of the invention can be easily attached to the building at the building site it eliminates the cost of the lumber and/or other materials employed to make the eaves of roofs, and permitsroof trusses and roof structures of modular units to be prefabricated and shipped without eaves thereby allowing an increase in the size of the units shipped, while simultaneously providing the finished building with a gutter system that would otherwise have to be provided, thereby saving the cost thereof.

THE DRAWINGS The invention, along with its objectives and advantages, will be better understood from consideration of the following detail description in connection with accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a combined gutter, sofiit and fascia structure attached to a side wall and roof of a building by a supporting bracket and a ventilated anchoring strip in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the bracket shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the bracket of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an end view of an alternative embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows in perspective, as viewed from beneath the structure, an elongated, combined and unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure 10, forming a structural eave, extending along and supported at the edge of a slanted roof deck 12 of a building by brackets 14 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1), and secured to a side wall 16 of the building by an elongated, vented anchoring strip 18. The combined eave structure 10, when attached to a building roof, comprises an essentially vertically extending rear wall 20 disposed against the ends of roof beams or trusses 22, a horizontally extending wall 24 and a front, vertically extending wall 26. An inclined wall or flange portion 28 integral with and extending rearwardly from the upper edge of the rear wall 20 is provided for attaching the eave structure to the roof 12.

The horizontal wall 24 of the elongated eave structure 10 forms the soffit of the structure while the front vertical wall forms the .fascia of the structure and building roof to which it is attached. Together, the rear, horizontal and front wall portions of the structure forms a gutter for the roof.

Primarily for aesthetic purposes, the front edge of the horizontal soffit portion 24 is provided with a downwardly directed structural step 30 extending along the length of the soffit. In a similar manner, the rear of the soffit is provided with a downwardly directed step 32 for purposes explained hereinafter.

The upper edge of the fascia wall portion 26 terminates in inwardly directed wall or flange 34 having an inclined return bend portion 35.

The eave is preferably made and formed from sheet metal material, and the configuration of the eave is relatively simple, as seen in FIG. 1, so that the eave can be economically produced by known forming techniques.

The structure of the invention, as thus far described, is secured to the roof 12 in a high strength manner by a plurality of the brackets 14. Each bracket, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, is a unitary, single-piece structure comprising a main body portion 38 having a substantially planar configuration that terminates at the front end thereof in an integral hooked flange 39 dimensioned to seat in interlocking engagement with the inwardly directed wall and return bend portions 34 and 35 of the fascia wall 26 (of the eave structure 10). The hooked flange is shown comprising two structural portions that extend laterally of and generally in planes normal to the plane of the main body portion 38 and in planes normal to each other. The rear of the main body portion terminates in a laterally directed, integral flange 40 extending in a plane generally normal to that of the main body 38. For the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5 the flange 40 can be slotted at 41, and provided with an inwardly inclined lip 42. The over-all length of the main body portion of the bracket corresponds to the open distance between the rear and front walls of the cave structure.

Beginning at a location rearwardly of the front of the bracket 14, and extending beyond the rear flange 40 thereof (at an angle thereto), and in a plane substantially normal to that of the main body 38, a portion of 3 5 the upper edge of the main body terminates in an upwardly inclined, integral roof anchoring wall portion 44. The angle of incline of the roof anchoring portion 44 extending beyond the location of the rear flange 40 may be slightly greater than that of the portion lying between the front and rear of the bracket, as shown in FIG. 3.

As further shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the main body and roof anchoring portions of the bracket 14 can be provided with longitudinally extending strengthening ribs 45 and 46 respectively.

The elongated eave 10 and the bracket 14 of the invention are rapidly and easily attached to a building thereby providing savings in the installation thereof. Installation accomplished by first disposing the brackets in the eave, in a suitably spaced apart manner therealong, by locating the hooked flange 39 of each bracket behind the return bend 35 of the fascia wall 26, and rotating the brackets downwardly until the roof anchoring portions 44 thereof come to rest on the inclined rear wall extension 28 of the eave. The eave is then located and held against the lower edge of a building roof, i.e., against the ends of trusses 22, for example, with the rearwardly inclined wall portion 28 of the eave structure resting on the surface of the roof deck. The inclined wall portion is then quickly nailed or otherwise fastened to roof deck. The brackets are then fastened to the deck over the inclined wall of the eave by driving fasteners through the roof anchoring portion 44 of the bracket. The bracket and the eave are further anchored to the roof by driving a fastening means through the flange 40 and into the truss ends. A hole 48, as shown in FIG. '1, can be provided in lower portion of the rear flange 40 for this purpose.

To close each end of each eave structure of the invention, an end cap 49 is provided, as shown in FIG. 5.

If the attic of a building is vented at the gable ends thereof, for example, the essentially rectangular shaped eave structure of FIG. 1 can be mounted flush against the side of the building, with the roof joist or truss ends 22 being essentially flush with the outside surface of the building side wall 16. Where a building is not otherwise ventilated, or where additional venting might be desired or necessary, the rectangular shaped eave structure of the invention may be blocked away from the building side and truss ends when it is attached to the building, or the trusses can be extended a short distance beyond the side wall of the building, as shown in FIG. 1. In either case, a space 50 is provided between the wall 16 of the building and rear wall 20 of unitary eave for air to flow into and out of the attic area.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the invention where it is not necessary to block or extend the truss ends to provide a space 50 for ventilation purposes. Rather, the lower portion of the rear wall 20 of the eave inclines or slants (at 20A) from the step 32, spaced from the building wall 16, to an upper vertical portion of the rear wall at a location above the building wall 16 and against the truss ends. In this manner a triangular space 50 is provided to permit air flow behind the cave and between the trusses.

To close space 50 at the bottom thereof, and to extend the soffit 24 to the wall 16 of the building, as well as to anchor the eave to the wall 16, the elongated, vented strip 18 is provided. The strip comprises a main, essentially horizontal wall portion 53, a downwardly depending flange 54 terminating the rear. edge of the horizontal wall, and a generally upwardly extending flange 55 terminating the front edge of the horizontal wall. The eave 10 is anchored to the side of the building, by strip by first locating the horizontal wall portion thereof against the bottom, horizontal wall portion of the rear step 32 of the soffit, with the upwardly extending flange of the strip positioned in front of the step to engage the same. The rear, downwardly depending flange of the strip is then attached to the wall 16 of the building by fasteners driven through the flange and into the wall. In FIG. 1, the flange is shown provided with holes 56 to receive the fasteners. To provide the venting function, the horizontal wall 53 of the strip 52 is provided with openings 56 at a location beneath the space 50, the openings, as shown in FIG. 1, being in the form of transversely extending louvers.

The anchoring of the eave 10 in the manner just described restrains the eave against lifting forces exerted thereon under high wind conditions, while large, downwardly exerted loads and forces on the eave are resisted by the brackets 14. The bracket structure of the invention, with its main body 38 extending in a vertical plane when employed to mount the, eave 10 on a roof structure, and the roof anchoring portion 44 being an integral part thereof, is inherently very strong, and is therefore capable of imparting this strength to the cave structure 10 without the necessity of using heavy gauge materials.

Further, in addition to its high strength, the bracket of the invention, being a single-piece structure, is economical to produce since it can be readily punched from sheet stock on a mass production basis in the form of a planar blank, with wall and flange portions 39, 40 and 44 easily folded into the positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 to complete its fabrication.

An alternative embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 5 in which an elongated unitary structural eave 60 is secured to a roof deck by an elongated mounting strip 62 fastened to the deck and disposed in interlocking engagement with a rear wall 64 of the eave. More particularly, the eave comprises a rear wall 64 terminating at its upper edge by a return bend portion 65, and engages a similar return bend portion 66 when disposed in the manner shown in FIG. 5, terminating at the lower edge of a downwardly depending wall portion 67 of the mounting strip. The lower portion of depending wall 67 is offset inwardly at 68 to accommodate the return bend portion 65. Further, the upper edge of wall portion 67 merges into a rearwardly extending, inclined wall portion 69 shown secured to the roof deck, in FIG. 5, by suitable fasteners at 70.

The remainder of the unitary eave 60 is essentially the same as that described above in connection with embodiment of FIG. 1, the cave 60 being mounted on a roof in a high strength manner by a plurality of brackets 14 suitably spaced apart along and engaging the eave. The inclined lip 42 of the rear flange 40 of each bracket assists in directing the lower part of the flange past the offset 68 in the eave mounting strip, which offset protrudes slightly into the open area of the eave. The slot 41 provided in the rear flange 40 functions to accommodate the offset after the bracket is properly located in place in the eave.

From the foregoing description it should now be apparent that a new and useful, separately fabricated and unitary eave structure is provided in which gutter, soffit and fascia portions are combined. Such a structure is quickly and economically installed on the lower roof edges of buildings, and has a high strength characteristic provided by brackets 14 extending traversely of and disposed in interlocking engagement with the structure. Such eave structures allow buildings to be initially fabricated without overhanging eave portions thereby reducing the cost of the roof while simultaneously perbodiments thereof, we claim:

1. In combination, an elongated unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure having a generally rectangular shape in cross section and providing an cave and gutter structure for a building originally constructed without an eave and gutter comprising:

a. an elongated, planar, rear wall portion provided with means attaching said structure to the roof of said building, a substantially horizontal, planar, elongated bottom wall portion serving as a soffit and provided with downwardly extending steps respectively adjacent the front and the rear edges thereof, and a substantially vertical, planar and upwardly extending elongated front wall portion spaced forwardly from said rear wall portion serving as a fascia and terminating at its upper edge in an inwardly projecting wall provided with a return bend extending lengthwise of said front wall, said elongated rear, bottom and front walls, in combination, being integrally formed and providing the gutter of said unitary structure,

b. a single piece mounting and supporting bracket for said eave and gutter structure having a vertically positioned planar main body portion disposed transversely of said eave and gutter structure, said main body portion terminating at the front thereof with two flange portions located respectively in two planes substantially normal to said main body portion and to each other for interlocking engagement within the return bend of said fascia portion, said flanges being located on one side of the main body portion of said mounting bracket, said main body portion terminating at the rear thereof with at least one integral flange disposed in a plane substantially normal to that of said main body portion, and an integral, roof anchoring portion located in a plane substantially normal to the plane of said main body portion and extending rearwardly of said integral flange and main body portion, said roof anchoring portion being in overlying, secured relation to the portion of the roof adjacent the edge thereof, and

an elongated anchoring strip for said eave structure comprising a horizontal main body portion terminating at its rear edge with a downwardly depending flange for securing said strip to the wall of said building, and terminating at its front end with a generally upwardly extending flange for placement in front of the downwardly extending step adjacent the rear of the horizontal soffit portion.

F I I It l 

1. In combination, an elongated unitary gutter, soffit and fascia structure having a generally rectangular shape in cross section and providing an eave and gutter structure for a building originally constructed without an eave and gutter comprising: a. an elongated, planar, rear wall portion provided with means attaching said structure to the roof of said building, a substantially horizontal, planar, elongated bottom wall portion serving as a soffit and provided with downwardly extending steps respectively adjacent the front and the rear edges thereof, and a substantially vertical, planar and upwardly extending elongated front wall portion spaced forwardly from said rear wall portion serving as a fascia and terminating at its upper edge in an inwardly projecting wall provided with a return bend extending lengthwise of said front wall, said elongated rear, bottom and front walls, in combination, being integrally formed and providing the gutter of said unitary structure, b. a single piece mounting and supporting bracket for said eave and gutter structure having a vertically positioned planar main body portion disposed transversely of said eave and gutter structure, said main body portion terminating at the front thereof with two flange portions located respectively in two planes substantially normal to said main body portion and to each other for interlocking engagement within the return bend of said fascia portion, said flanges being located on one side of the main body portion of said mounting bracket, said main body portion terminating at the rear thereof with at least one integral flange disposed in a plane substantially normal to that of said main body portion, and an integral, roof anchoring portion located in a plane substantially normal to the plane of said main body portion and extending rearwardly of said integral flange and main body portion, said roof anchoring portion being in overlying, secured relation to the portion of the roof adjacent the edge thereof, and an elongated anchoring strip for said eave sTructure comprising a horizontal main body portion terminating at its rear edge with a downwardly depending flange for securing said strip to the wall of said building, and terminating at its front end with a generally upwardly extending flange for placement in front of the downwardly extending step adjacent the rear of the horizontal soffit portion. 